Birthday parties sure have changed from when I was a kid growing up. We used to invite some kids over, play some games, and have cake. There might have been a simple theme, a pinata, an older sister doing face paint (thanks, Abbey!), some relay races in the backyard — nothing too extravagant or costly. I don’t think I ever had a birthday party that wasn’t held at home.
But these days, it seems as if the norm is to rent a venue, which often comes at a steep cost. When you add providing snacks or a meal and giving out party favors, birthday parties can become quite the expense for families.
For my twins’ first many years of birthday parties, it was important for our family to invite their whole class(es). We’d rent out a shelter at Carkeek Park, invite their classmates and other friends, buy snacks and bake a ton of treats (thanks, Grandmas!), and, rain or shine, play at the park. It was less expensive than hosting it at a venue, and we were able to invite dozens of kids (when they turned six, we were able to invite both of their kindergarten classes).
(Image: Ellie White / Seattle’s Child)
But this year, for their seventh birthdays, it felt like time to try something new. I think we’d been going to the park for at least the last four years, so we decided to try hosting individual parties for each of them, indoors, rather than risk a rainy Saturday at the park.
But where did that leave us? With a nearly 100-year-old Seattle house and a small backyard, we are limited on space. And how could an at-home party compete with a venue with bouncy houses, trampolines, swimming, pottery painting, or rock climbing? We needed a good idea — an activity to focus the party around.
After doing some research, we decided to host a LEGO party for my son at our house. The idea? Invite a few friends over, have a small LEGO kit for each to complete, make homemade pizza (a common activity in our house), and let them play.
(Image: Ellie White / Seattle’s Child)
We selected 58-piece, ages 6+, $10.99 Star Wars LEGO kits, and I was pleased to find out that a local game and toy store, Math ‘n Stuff, had six in stock. I emailed out an invitation (LEGOs! Pizza! No gifts, please!), and on a cloudy Saturday morning, we welcomed five friends over for our LEGO party.
Our birthday boy had a fun time, though it didn’t turn out exactly as we’d planned: the LEGO building time was shorter than anticipated and not all kids finished their build, half of the kids weren’t interested in making pizzas (all were interested in eating, though!), my idea that they would free play with our LEGO collection was not realized, and we had pretty big, overwhelming energy with six first graders in the house.
(Image: Ellie White / Seattle’s Child)
But, overall, it worked! Everyone spent some time on their LEGO kit; a few kids got into pizza-making and worked out a little system for putting toppings on and transporting the ready-to-bake pizzas to the kitchen; and my husband had the brilliant (and necessary) idea to get the kids outside toward the end of the party. We live on a dead-end street, so he took the kids out front and played catch with a football, which turned out to be an essential activity.
Below are some positives, challenges, and considerations we took away from hosting our first at-home birthday party. We’ll do it again (possible themes: Tea party? Board games? Crafts? Movie night?) and apply some of our lessons learned to future parties.
Positives
- No rental fee for a venue
- Able to host any day/time
- The party favor was the LEGO kit they built, no need to do a separate favor bag
- No need for a lot of pre-packaged snacks (in addition to pizza, we cut up fruit and had ice cream and homemade cupcakes)
- The total cost was six LEGO kits and food
(Image: Ellie White / Seattle’s Child)
Challenges
- Limit on the number of guests we could invite
- RSVP important and required
- Need to prep house and food, and clean afterward
- Big kid-energy in a small space
(Image: Ellie White / Seattle’s Child)
Considerations
- Have the same activity for all guests
- Different levels of interest and abilities in doing the party’s main activity
- Can be a parent/caregiver drop-off party, or have parents/caregivers stay to help
- Lessen the work by only doing snacks or getting pre-made food, like ordering pizza
- Make sure to have a way for guests to transport their activity back home (we used gallon-sized plastic bags)
- Some outside space/time! This was key to the energy level at our party. If you don’t have a big enough backyard or a dead end, some other ideas are to take a walk, do sidewalk chalk, or borrow equipment like jump ropes or other lawn games that can be done in smaller outdoor spaces.
